Close Combat Mage

Chapter 13 – Strong or Weak?

Seeing the apprehensive Suo Jia, the woman smiled. “Okay, all the eggs are there. Each egg has a number; all you need to do is draw a number from that large box over there and pick up the egg with the corresponding number.”

Nervously swallowing his own saliva, Suo Jia asked in a strained voice, “Big Sister, is there really a good magical pet in here? Do such good things actually exist?”

Furrowing her brow, the girl pointed at the near a hundred receptacles hanging above the counter. “Do you see those over there? Inside those receptacles are high level magical pet eggs that have yet to be drawn. If you manage to draw their numbers from 1-100, then you can take the matching egg.”

While talking, the girl pointed to the large box. “As for that box, it has been verified by the Church. No one can change the order of the cards inside; we are also unable to scam you.”

The girl’s words alone didn’t have much credibility, but after bringing up the Church, Suo Jia immediately relaxed. He knew that unless the box was broken, even if the emperor came in person he couldn’t commit a fraud. Anything that the Church had verified couldn’t be fake.

Suo Jia walked expectantly to the side of the box, brought both palms together to pray for a while, and then extended his hand towards the box. Very quickly, a card emitting a milky-white glow shot out from the bottom of the box.

Even though the card was already in his hands, Suo Jia was so nervous he dared not look. Although he initially claimed to not care what species his pet was, who wouldn’t want a powerful magical pet? Even if he didn’t use it for himself, he could still sell it for a huge amount of money!

“Wa!” Just as Suo Jia had finished gathering his courage, the girl beside him let out a shocked sound. Hearing this, Suo Jia quickly opened his eyes, and glanced at the card in his hands.

“11!” Seeing the number on the milky-white card he was holding, Suo Jia was dizzy with happiness. Even though this was only the 11th best egg, the value was already past 100 gold. Its value even exceeded 1000 gold..

Seeing Suo Jia’s delight, the girl said enviously: “Your luck is amazing; to have drawn egg number 11 is really not an easy feat. From all the eggs drawn from that pile so far, you drew the best egg.”

After pausing for a bit, the girl continued in a regretful voice: “Even though this isn’t one of the top ten magical pet eggs, this is already ranked first out of ten of the middle grade eggs.”

While speaking, the girl took the card from Suo Jia’s hand, and gently pulled a handle. After a moment….the egg marked #11 that was suspended above the counter quickly floated down, dropping onto the girl’s hand.

“Ya!” Seeing the magical pet egg in her hand, the girl showed a strange expression. After contemplating for a while, she finally passed the egg to Suo Jia, and at the same time, said: “I really don’t know if I should praise you for your good luck, or say that you have bad luck.”

Suo Jia glanced at the egg for a second, and then doubtfully accepted the egg as he put it into his pocket. He did not really understand how to differentiate magical beast eggs, so inspecting it further would be pointless. It was best to just listen to the Big Sister’s explanation.

Seeing Suo Jia wait for her explanation, the girl slightly smiled: “This magical pet egg, despite being put into the middle level egg ranks, is definitely not a middle level magical pet. In reality, it should count as a superior level magical pet!”

“Ah!” Hearing the girl’s words, Suo Jia could not help shouting in excitement. “Since it is a superior level magical pet, why is its egg a middle level egg? That makes no sense.”

“Keke…” Laughing, the girl shook her head, and patiently explained: “This magical pet egg is a Frost Wyrm egg. In fact, it would count as the highest level magical pet egg. In reality, a mature Frost Wyrm is also called a Diamond Dragon, which is the world’s strongest magical creature. They are unrivalled creatures. Even the Black Dragon King can only bow before it.”

“Agah!” Hearing the girl’s words, Suo Jia’s mouth opened wide, practically drooling. Did such an amazing thing like this exist? He wasn’t dreaming right?

Seeing Suo Jia’s seemingly dull-witted state, the girl did not have the heart to continue, but she helplessly went on: “However, the Frost Wyrm, besides being called the Diamond Dragon, is also more widely known as the Thousand Year Dragon! In other words, they require 1000 years to enter the mature stage! Only then will they become the unrivalled Frost Wyrms.”

“Eh! A thousand years….” Hearing the girl’s words, Suo Jia momentarily seemed to freeze from the news about the Frost Wyrm. His stiff smile froze on his face, completely at loss at how to absorb this information.

Seeing Suo Jia’s funny expression, the girl lightly covered her mouth, not daring to laugh out loud. However, explaining was necessary, as it was part of her job.

Even though Frost Wyrms were very powerful, their magical pet eggs were not that difficult to obtain. Frost Wyrms are creatures that do not believe in personal upbringing of their own children. They lay thousands of eggs at a time, and since there is no form of contraception, nor do they know any control, their egg count is much higher in number than the other high level magical beast eggs despite being so formidable.

What’s more, Frost Wyrms are the most irresponsible parents, about the same level as turtles. Once they finish laying their eggs, they leave them and continue happily enjoying their lives. Even though their eggs are normally in covert places, their posterity still has difficulty living for long, let alone reaching their 1000 year long life expectancy. This is why only six mature Frost Wyrms exist in the entire world.

However, a Frost Wyrm egg cannot be underestimated. A young Frost Wyrm’s power is already at the level of a middle level magical beast. The only regretful thing is that within a human’s lifespan, it is impossible to ever utilize a young Frost Wyrm’s true power. Because of the downside that no human can live up to a thousand years, Frost Wyrm eggs are only middle level magical pet eggs.

Even though there were lots of shortcomings, Suo Jia was still beyond excited. He had originally planned on casually buying a cheap magical pet, but he had never imagined that he had actually managed to get the world’s most formidable magical pet. Even though he would never witness its maturity in his lifetime, this was already an amazing feat compared to his original intention.

Fishing out the pale blue magical pet egg from his pocket, Suo Jia fondled it lovingly, lightly rubbing its glossy shell. Finally…Suo Jia decided that he would not sell this egg. Even though it was worth 1000 gold, a person only has one life, and he can only have one magical pet. If this had been arranged by God, how could he exchange it for money?

What’s more, with 1000 additional gold, he was still far from being able to buy a house. After careful consideration, he decided that no matter what, selling the Frost Wyrm egg would be a stupid decision.

While he was silently deciding this, the girl’s voice said: “A magical pet egg’s hatching method requires you to transfuse magic into it. After you have instilled enough magic power into it, the egg will hatch!”

Hearing the girl’s words, Suo Jia, who had already made his decision, did not hesitate to directly transfuse magic power into the pale blue Frost Wyrm egg in his hand. The girl’s voice continued: “After hatching the creature, it will recognize its master by the magical power it received. Thus…if you want to sell it, then you cannot transfuse your magic power. Once it has received your magic power, even if other people received the egg, the egg will not be able to hatch.”

The girl’s words did not make Suo Jia waver; it was only 1000 gold. Such an amazing pet was worth that much money. For his own future, he had already decided that he would keep the Frost Wyrm. For that, he was willing to sacrifice 1000 gold.

Suo Jia had an affinity for water, and the Frost Wyrm was a beyond God-level magical beast of the water element. Frost Wyrms and water mages were perfect matches for each other. How could such a perfect thing be sold for a trifling 1000 gold? In the future, Suo Jia would earn ten times, maybe even a hundred times more money back.

Accompanying Suo Jia’s constant transfusion of magic power, the pale blue magical pet egg radiated streams of cold air. Even though the distance to hatching was still far from being reached, it was obvious to anyone watching that this magical pet egg already had a master!

“Ah!” Seeing the magical pet egg releasing those streams of cold air, the girl shouted in surprise. In her eyes, Suo Jia was not well-off, otherwise he would not have needed to buy the cheapest magical pet egg. Thus, she could not understand; if he was so poor that he couldn’t even choose a pet of his choice, why would he try to hatch the Frost Wyrm without hesitation? That was only a peak middle level magical beast egg! Its value was….